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Friday, January 30, 2015

A New Toy!

After a lot of deliberation, I decided to get one of the new(ish) Cricut Explore electronic cutting machines. Well, it arrived today, even before I was out of bed!

Here it is:

The machine is very simple to look at and when you actually get to use it, it is also relatively simple to operate. Because you have to use it with the computer and the web-based Cricut Design Space, you do need to have it where the computer is, but I am so used to using my cutting machines with the computer, that is not an issue for me. With the machine, came a year's subscription to the on-line images - about 25,000 of them, so you can imagine the fun I have had this morning looking at all the images and having a play!

The best thing about the machine (that I have found so far anyway) is the print then cut feature on the machine. It is so easy to import an image (I used png files as they have a transparent background), print it to the colour printer then cut it out. The calibration was so much simpler than the Black Cat Cougar and the cut images were the best I have ever done (even with the BC!).

When you print the images, they come out with a thick black line around the image.

When the Cricut cuts the images, it cuts around the thin black line just on the edge of the image. It even cut out the little bits like the spaces between the legs. The cut quality was terrific - no tears or jagged edges.

Tim Holtz Creative Chemistry 102

Tim Holtz Creative Chemistry 101

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About Me

Married to a wonderful husband, with two amazing adult children, a beautiful DIL, a sporty SIL, a gorgeous grand-daughter and two very cute grandsons. I have been crafting for several years and love to try out new things. Have met some wonderful people through crafting, all over the world.

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Favourite Tips

If you need a brad of a particular colour and don't have one, check to see if you have some embossing powder of the colour you want . Rub embossing ink on the top of the brad, then dip it into the embossing powder then heat set it. Use tweezers or a clip peg to hold the brad while you heat it.

When you are stitching on cards, make sure you are not sewing over the top of DS tape! The needle gets gummed up and won't lock the threads underneath.

Use zip lock plastic envelopes for smaller pieces of card offcuts that accumulate when making cards. Have one envelope per colour and periodically go through and trim up so they are ready for use on another card.